Friday, January 28, 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

"I know I can play," Walker said, via AOL FanHouse. "If I continue to stay in the shape I'm in now, I know I can play when I'm 50. Right now, if you asked if I can play today, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind I can play football today, that I can help out a team today.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

If blogging at the level I do it here is about anything, it's about thinking my opinion should be really important to other people.

So since I was away the last 12 days, in Mexico following the smartest decision of my life, marrying the wonderful Marilyn Pegeuro, it stands to reason that you, too, would need a rehash of the past week or so, with comment.

Dawgsonline ran an excellent piece on the very surprising news that Stacy Searels has left the University of Georgia for Texas. Groo, as he so often does, hits all the main points:

The timing isn’t the best – coaches are full on into recruiting mode

One guy leaving for a lot more money isn’t a sign to man the lifeboats.

If you believe some of the scuttlebutt out there, Searels was one of the first to blow the whistle on slippage in Georgia’s conditioning program. ... and I hope that we’re not losing that challenging perspective.

I need to get to Athens soon to see The Dawgs in action in person. I predict an NCAA Tournament birth this year. For basketball analysis and update from my time away, I also turned to Georgia Sports Blog, and they provide the sentence that best encapsulates how I have felt recently as a Bulldog:

My optimism for basketball is the yin to my football pessimism's yang.

Still, late January is a time for even further optimism when your football team is ranked in the top 10 in recruiting rankings. And GSB, pessimistic about football in general, feeds that optimism nonetheless:

Things were looking bleak about 45 days ago on the recruiting trail. It was beginning to look like Bama would be signing our Dream Team. But Coach Richt and crew made up enormous ground with several top prospects, and we continue to hear positive rumblings from the direction of Isaiah Crowell (RB), Ray Drew (DE/OLB) and John Jenkins (Juco DT).

When you look at the most glaring holes in Georgia's talent base guys this class looks like it's heading towards addressing many of them.

Don’t kid yourself – recruiting is a tough sell for Coach Richt right now. For him to go toe to toe with Saban and Smart, two tough recruiters who have a hotter program to pitch, and win is an indication to me that maybe, yes, there still is some fire in the belly.

I leave the country for 10 days, and suddenly it might still be great to be a Georgia Bulldog. Didn't take long, seldom does. Thomas Brown even sees a way to pump up our strength and conditioning program that he says worked in his day.

My question is: Is this a motivational issue, or is this a lack-of-talent issue? February can always solve that ... if you're patient, you make good decisions and you follow through.

When I was in Mexico on my honeymoon, I learned that "Arriba!," which Speedy Gonalez used to yell when I was a kid, means "Up!"

Monday, January 10, 2011

Dick Winters, a highly decorated World War II hero who became a household name when his heroics were chronicled in a Stephen Ambrose book that later became the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," has died. He was 92.

A very private and modest man, he died last week but requested that the news be withheld until after the funeral, a family friend told the Associated Press.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

It is one thing to complain about problem. It's another to suggest specific courses of action. And for that, I have to hand it to Buck Belue.

He is all in on his plan to fix the Bulldogs:

On Garner's watch as Recruiting Coordinator, Georgia has been banned from Carver/Columbus, annually struck out with big-time players at Gainesville HS, and have been slow to move on top JC players that could provide immediate impact. Plus, the bottom line says they've made a lot of mistakes the last few years. ...

Richt has to shake things up. A change here would do exactly that.

Offer him the DL job (to his credit his resume' shows former pupils Seymour, Stroud, Grant & Golston making it in the NFL). Shake things up by bringing in a new Recruiting Coordinator, after signing day. Use Rodney has an "Ace" recruiter during the offseason. Target some of the top guys and put him on them full-time.

Bold. And the way Buck describes it ... workable.

Which brings us to Chuck Heater, subject of this report at Georgia Sports Blog, which doesn't update as often as it used to, but still has some of the most astute commentary available:

At age 57, (Heater has) served on coaching staffs that have won two SEC titles and two national titles at UF, a national title at Notre Dame, an undefeated season at Utah, a Rose Bowl and Pac 10 title at Washington, a Big Ten title at Ohio State, and an 11-1 record at Colorado.

He's a winner.

As a recruiting coordinator for the Gators under Meyer, they built a recruiting machine with few peers. Also under Meyer and Heater, the Gators produced defensive back fields with devastating speed and toughness with kids who were coached well enough to begin contributing their freshmen year. He's a tough as nails coach with high expectations for his kids.

Even the Bulldogs overlooked the Knights. Oh, they won’t admit that. But at their recent team banquet, the Bulldogs presented its seniors with a plaque. Etched on it was the season record — 7-6.

Keep in mind that Georgia entered the Liberty Bowl with a 6-6 record.

It reads like we added self-inflicted insult to injury, and further evidence of a team that took the bowl game for granted. But there is some context to this. Namely, we do it every year.

From UGA Athletic Department spokesman Claude Felton via email today:

Every year we present the senior plaques at the Gala, which as you know is before the bowl game. One line on the plate is the season record and we always list it with a win in the upcoming bowl game. If we lose the game, we replace the plate.

We’ve done that 14 straight years and only had to replace the plate 3 times.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Richt's turn-around depends on the guys that are already on campus. It's as simple as that. And that's a problem. ... That D-Line is just terrible. ...

Coach Garner has done a poor job. Not sure how else you can put it. It makes my stomach turn, when I see these guys running on and off the field... and see the fat bouncing up and down. The O-Line looks soft too. No push, limited movement. Couldn't knock UCF off the ball.

In my gut, which is essentially meaningless to anyone but me, I feel a lot like it's 2000 again. We've got a coach who probably deserves another year, though moreso this time than at the end of Jim Donnan's tenure. But you have to ask yourself what UGA President Michael Adams reportedly asked himself when he decided to fire Donnan after the 2000 season instead of waiting: